Sam Arnaout revealed as the buyer of the $22 million Toaster penthouse

The penthouse of of the iconic ‘Toaster’ building on Sydney Harbour has been bought by hotel baron Sam Arnaout.

The property was previously owned by the late hotelier Cyril Maloney and his widow Margaret.

The $22 million sale, through CBRE’s Ben Stewart, is the highest apartment sale for the year, and follows Ms Maloney’s decision to downsize to a $10.25 million pad in Darling Point.

The $22 million sale is the highest strata sale for the year. Photo: Supplied

Arnaout, chief executive of Iris Capital, is named as the buyer on a caveat on the title of the whole-floor apartment at Circular Quay.

Arnaout’s purchase is the second-highest apartment sale in Sydney, topped only by former Multiplex chief Andrew Roberts’ record $25 million purchase of the double penthouse in the Bondi Pacific, in Bondi Beach, last year.

Maloney acquired the whole 11th floor in the landmark Bennelong building in 1999, aged 80, buying four apartments for a total of $13.9 million before commissioning architect Michael Suttor to redesign it into a lavishly appointed single residence with billiard room, guest quarters and interiors by Michael Love.

Late hotelier Cyril Maloney famously combined four apartments atop the “Toaster” building to create a large penthouse.

The year Maloney died in 2013, aged 93, he had an estimated worth of $370 million, according to the BRW 200 Rich List. Included in his portfolio of 14 pubs was the Bondi Hotel, which he owned for 40 years.

At 36, Arnaout comes to his luxury residence younger than Maloney, but as chief executive of Iris Capital he too has an impressive line-up of 14 Sydney’s drinking institutions to his name.

Given a strategy of mixing residential redevelopment with its hospitality business, Iris Capital’s more notable hotels include the Clovelly Hotel, Hunters Hill Hotel, the Goldfish in Kings Cross, PJ’s Irish Pub in Parramatta, Cock N’Bull Hotel at Bondi Junction, and more recently adding the Bourbon Hotel in Kings Cross for $27 million.

Margaret Maloney first listed the apartment 18 months ago with $30 million hopes, including a smaller upstairs apartment set above the rear of the Maloney spread with internal access.

That apartment was sold off separately in May last year for $3.9 million, having been added to the Maloney holding in 2001 for $1,251,000.